Coalition says Tsipras request for snap elections is unconstitutional

PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos has labelled “unconstitutional” a request by SYRIZA chief Alexis Tsipras for early general elections.

Venizelos held a news conference shortly after Tsipras met with President Karolos Papoulias, where he suggested that the government lacked the legitimacy to continue. Tsipras called for national elections “as soon as possible.”

The PASOK leader said that in his suggestion that the European election results indicated a “disharmony” between the public will and the allocation of seats in Greek Parliament was based on an old version of the country’s constitution.

Government spokesman Simos Kedikoglou insisted that the result of the EU ballot could not be interpreted as a vote against the coalition. “If this were the case then government’s would not have four-year terms in any country,” he said.

“Our responsibility before the constitution and the people is to fulfil this government’s mandate,” added Kedikoglou. “And, someone should tell Mr Tsipras that the article of the constitution he referred to was scrapped 28 years ago. By making reference to it he shows how much he lacks seriousness.”